English as a Global Language

English as a global language

Second edition

David Crystal, world authority on the English language, presents a lively

and factual account of the rise of English as a global language and ex￾plores the whys and wherefores of the history, current status and future

potential of English as the international language of communication. En￾glish has been lauded as the most ‘successful’ language ever, with 1,500

million speakers worldwide; but Crystal avoids taking sides and tells the

story in a measured but engaging way, backed by facts and figures. This

new edition of his classic book contains extra sections (on subjects in￾cluding the linguistic features of New Englishes, the future of English as

a world language, and the possibility of an English ‘family’ of languages),

footnotes and a full bibliography. There are updates throughout. This is

a book for anyone of any nationality concerned with English: teachers,

students, language professionals, politicians, general readers and anyone

with a love of the language.

DAVID CRYSTAL is one of the world’s foremost authorities on language.

He is author of the hugely successful Cambridge encyclopedia of language

(1987; second edition 1997), Cambridge encyclopedia of the English

language (1995), Language death (2000), Language and the Internet

(2001) and Shakespeare’s words (2002, with Ben Crystal). An interna￾tionally renowned writer, journal editor, lecturer and broadcaster, he

received an OBE in 1995for his services to the study and teaching of

the English language. His edited books include several editions of The

Cambridge encyclopedia (1990–2000) and related publications, Words

on words (2000, with Hilary Crystal) and The new Penguin encyclopedia

(2002).

English as a global language

Second edition

DAVID CRYSTAL

  

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo

Cambridge University Press

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First published in print format

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© David Crystal 1997, 2003

2003

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This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of

relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place

without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

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Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of

s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not

guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

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Contents

List of tables page vii

Preface to the second edition ix

Preface to the first edition xii

1 Why a global language? 1

What is a global language? 3

What makes a global language? 7

Why do we need a global language? 11

What are the dangers of a global language? 14

Could anything stop a global language? 25

A critical era 27

2 Why English? The historical context 29

Origins 30

America 31

Canada 36

The Caribbean 39

Australia and New Zealand 40

South Africa 43

South Asia 46

Former colonial Africa 49

South-east Asia and the South Pacific 54

A world view 59

v

Contents

3 Why English? The cultural foundation 72

Political developments 78

Access to knowledge 80

Taken for granted 83

4 Why English? The cultural legacy 86

International relations 86

The media 90

The press 91

Advertising 93

Broadcasting 95

Cinema 98

Popular music 100

International travel 104

International safety 106

Education 110

Communications 114

The right place at the right time 120

5The future of global English 123

The rejection of English 124

Contrasting attitudes: the US situation 127

New Englishes 140

The linguistic character of new Englishes 147

Grammar 147

Vocabulary 158

Code-switching 164

Other domains 168

The future of English as a world language 172

An English family of languages? 177

A unique event? 189

References 192

Index 202

vi

List of tables

1 Speakers of English in territories where the

language has had special relevance page 62

2 Annual growth rate in population in selected

countries, 1996–2001 71

3(a) Some differences in British and American

adverbial usage 150

(b) Specific adverb+adjective pairs showing

differences in conversational usage 150

4 Some potentially distinctive grammatical

features of New Englishes 153

5Some distinctive collocations and idioms

noted in Pakistan, Nigeria and Ghana 163

vii

Preface to the second edition

Although English as a global language did not appear until 1997,

it was actually written in 1995, which in 2002 seems a very long

time ago, as far as global linguistic developments are concerned.

The 1990s were a revolutionary decade, in that respect, with a

proliferation of new linguistic varieties arising out of the world￾wide implementation of the Internet, an emerging awareness of

the crisis affecting the world’s endangered languages, and an in￾creasingly public recognition of the global position of English.

Academic publications relating to this last topic seriously increased

in number and weight. The largely article-driven literature of pre￾vious decades had typically been exploratory and programmatic,

restricted to individual situations, anecdotal in illustration, lacking

a sociolinguistic frame of reference, and focusing on the written

(and usually literary) language. By contrast, the 1990s saw the

emergence of a more comprehensive perspective in which spoken

varieties became prominent, there was a real increase in the

amount of descriptive data, and attempts were made to arrive at

explanations and to make predictions of an appropriately general

and sociolinguistically informed character.

In particular, several book-length treatments of English ap￾peared, each providing a personal synthesis of previous observa￾tions and speculations, and focusing on the phenomenon of global

English as an end in itself. By the end of the decade, the differ￾ent attitudes had highlit a number of important theoretical issues,

ix

Preface to the second edition

and made it possible to see the various kinds of focus adopted by

individual authors. I came to see the first edition of the present

book, as a consequence, more clearly as predominantly a retro￾spective account, examining the range of historical factors which

have led to the current position of English in the world. Although

avoiding firm predictions about the future, I thought it likely that

English ‘has already grown to be independent of any form of

social control’ (1st edition, p. 139). In my view the momentum

of growth has become so great that there is nothing likely to stop

its continued spread as a global lingua franca, at least in the fore￾seeable future. Other books took different perspectives. For ex￾ample, David Graddol’s The future of English, published in 1998,

looked towards the future, beginning with the present-day situa￾tion, and examining the contemporary trends likely to affect the

language’s eventual role. For him, English is certainly stoppable.

Emphasizing the unpredictability inherent in language use, he

suggested that ‘the current global wave of English may lose mo￾mentum’ (p. 60) and saw the real possibility of new language hier￾archies emerging in the next century, with English holding a less

global position. Then Tom McArthur, in The English languages,

also published in 1998, adopted a more synchronic perspective,

moving away from a monolithic concept of English. His primary

focus was on the kinds of variation encountered in the language as

a consequence of its global spread. He suggested that English was

undergoing a process of radical change which would eventually

lead to fragmentation into a ‘family of languages’.

The role of these books has been to underline some of the pa￾rameters of inquiry which must influence the next wave of empir￾ical studies. From a stage when there were few general hypotheses

to motivate research, we now have a multiplicity of them. Some

are issues relating to language use: several political, economic,

demographic and social factors have been identified as potential

influences on world language presence, all of which have been rec￾ognized as operating at local regional levels, such as in relation to

minority languages or endangered languages; however, the role of

such factors at a global level remains virtually unexplored. Others

are issues affecting language structure: the way in which regional

and social factors influence the growth of language varieties and

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Preface to the second edition

foster linguistic change has formed much of the subject-matter of

sociolinguistics and dialectology; but here, too, there is as yet little

understanding of what happens when these processes begin to op￾erate at a macro level. To take just one example: the radical diver￾sification envisioned by McArthur could have several outcomes,

certainly including the development of an English family of lan￾guages, but also resulting in various forms of multiglossia (going

well beyond current conceptions of diglossia), the emergence of

more complex notions of ‘standard’, and different kinds of multi￾dialectism. We have as yet no adequate typology of the remarkable

range of language contact situations which have emerged as a con￾sequence of globalization, either physically (e.g. through popu￾lation movement and economic development) or virtually (e.g.

through Internet communication and satellite broadcasting).

I originally wrote English as a global language as (what I hoped

would be) a straightforward read, and chose not to impede the

flow for a general reader by providing an array of academic foot￾notes and a full bibliographical apparatus. When I wanted to make

a specific reference, I incorporated it into the text. I think now,

several years on, things have changed, with very much more liter￾ature available to refer to, and more points of view to take into ac￾count, so for this new edition I have adopted a more conventional

academic style of presentation. As far as content is concerned, the

main change has been an expanded chapter 5, which now includes

a long section illustrating and discussing the structural features

of ‘New Englishes’. This too has been the consequence of the

much greater availability of descriptive studies of individual varie￾ties than was the case a decade ago. Finally, all population figures

and estimates of usage have been updated to the year 2001.

David Crystal

Holyhead

Publisher’s note:

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external web￾sites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press.

However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guar￾antee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

xi

Preface to the first edition

It has all happened so quickly. In 1950, any notion of English as a

true world language was but a dim, shadowy, theoretical possibil￾ity, surrounded by the political uncertainties of the Cold War, and

lacking any clear definition or sense of direction. Fifty years on,

and World English exists as a political and cultural reality. How

could such a dramatic linguistic shift have taken place, in less than

a lifetime? And why has English, and not some other language,

achieved such a status? These are the questions which this book

seeks to answer.

The time is right to address these issues. Thanks to progress in

sociolinguistics, we now know a great deal about the social and

cultural circumstances which govern language status and change,

and several encyclopedic surveys have made available detailed in￾formation about world language use. There is also an increasingly

urgent need for sensitive discussion. In several countries, the role

of English has become politically contentious, and arguments have

raged about its current and future status. Have matters developed

to the point where the rise of English as a world language is un￾stoppable? To debate this question, we need to be aware of the

factors which will influence the outcome.

It is difficult to write a book on this topic without it being inter￾preted as a political statement. Because there is no more intimate

or more sensitive an index of identity than language, the subject is

easily politicized, as it has been in such diverse locations as India,

xii

Preface to the first edition

Malaysia, and the USA. A detached account is all the more desir￾able, and this is what I have tried to write in these pages, partly

based on the historical research I carried out for my Cambridge

encyclopedia of the English language, but extending this to provide

a fuller and more focused analysis of the cultural factors involved.

I have thus tried to tell the story of World English objectively,

without taking sides on political issues, and without adopting the

kind of triumphalist tone which is unfortunately all too common

when people write on English in English.

But authors should always tell their readership where they

stand, when dealing with contentious topics, hence the follow￾ing summary. I firmly believe in two linguistic principles, which

some people see as contradictory, but which for me are two sides

of the one coin.

• I believe in the fundamental value of multilingualism, as an

amazing world resource which presents us with different perspec￾tives and insights, and thus enables us to reach a more profound

understanding of the nature of the human mind and spirit. In my

ideal world, everyone would be at least bi-lingual. I myself live in

a community where two languages – Welsh and English – exist

side by side, and I have cause to reflect every day on the bene￾fits which come from being part of two cultures. A large part of

my academic life, as a researcher in general linguistics, has been

devoted to persuading people to take language and languages se￾riously, so that as much as possible of our linguistic heritage can

be preserved.

• I believe in the fundamental value of a common language,

as an amazing world resource which presents us with unprece￾dented possibilities for mutual understanding, and thus enables

us to find fresh opportunities for international cooperation. In

my ideal world, everyone would have fluent command of a single

world language. I am already in the fortunate position of being a

fluent user of the language which is most in contention for this

role, and have cause to reflect every day on the benefits of having

it at my disposal. A large part of my academic life, as a specialist

in applied English linguistics, has been devoted to making these

benefits available to others, so that the legacy of an unfavoured

linguistic heritage should not lead inevitably to disadvantage.

xiii

Preface to the first edition

We need to take both principles on board if we are to make

any progress towards the kind of peaceful and tolerant society

which most people dream about. The first principle fosters histor￾ical identity and promotes a climate of mutual respect. The second

principle fosters cultural opportunity and promotes a climate of

international intelligibility. I hate it when people turn these prin￾ciples against each other, seeing them as contradictory rather than

complementary; but I can perfectly well understand why it hap￾pens. I am no innocent in the real bilingual world. Living in a

bilingual community as I do, and (when I’m not being a linguist)

being the director of a bicultural arts centre, I am very well aware

of the problems posed by limited financial resources, conflicts of

interest, and downright intolerance. I have had my share of heated

arguments with government authorities, local politicians, and na￾tional grant-awarding bodies over the question of how to arrive

at a sensible and sensitive balance between the two principles, in

their local application to the situation in Wales. So I am under

no illusions about how difficult it is to achieve a consensus on

such deep-rooted matters. But a search for balance and consensus

there must always be, in a civilized society, and this need becomes

even more critical at a world level, where the resources for mutual

harm, as a consequence of failure, are so much greater.

I have written English as a global language as a contribution

towards this long-term goal, but I cannot take the credit for first

seeing the need for such a book. The suggestion in fact came from

Mauro E. Mujica, chairman of US English, the largest organiza￾tion which has been campaigning for English to be made the offi￾cial language of the USA. He wanted to have a book which would

explain to the members of his organization, in a succinct and fac￾tual way, and without political bias, why English has achieved

such a worldwide status. I could not find such a book, nor did

my own previous accounts of the history of the language give a

comprehensive account of the social-historical factors involved. I

therefore decided to research a short account for private circu￾lation among his membership, and the present book is a heavily

reworked, retitled, and much expanded version of that – now in￾cluding, for example, a separate section on the ‘official English’

debate in the USA and further material on the use of English on

xiv